The basic idea of this trope is that a cast of characters in a story go through a lot more hardship, anguish and grief than is really necessary. In the end, however, you see them get their happily-ever-after. Though humans may act bad and the world may seem like it's a crapsack, that doesn't mean that the worst villain is beyond redemption, or that things can't be improved with hard work or even The Power of Love.

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Not to be confused with the Golden Ending in video games, where players actually have to earn their happy ending. It is possible for both tropes to be in play at the same time, however. This trope is a specific example of Laser-Guided Karma.

A rare double example in The Gold Mountain where the nameless hero must first win a princess and a kingdom by enduring multiple beatings and death without once trying to flee, beg or defend himself, then after losing his family and kingdom, must quest to get them back.

The Goose Girl involves a fair bit of struggle to get to Happily Ever After, when the princess is robbed and impersonated by her maid, and employed as a servant.

Mythology and Religion

Odysseus embodies this trope so much you could rename it The Odyssey. After surviving the bloody Trojan War, Poseidon develops a grudge on him, he suffers numerous misfortunes, near-death experiences, and a trip to the Underworld, eventually loses all of his friends and crew and is left to drift on the sea for months, is made a sex-slave for a few years, has been gone for two decades by the time he finally comes home, and finds that his wife is being forced to pick a suitor, so he and his son have to slaughter them all. And his dog died the minute he caught sight of him.

Technically, she fails; she falls into an eternal sleep and it's Cupid who, coming out of his depression, gives her her happy ending by pleading to Zeus.

Though, they both needed to earn their happy endings. So, even if Psyche had finally gained Aphrodites forgiveness and approval it would not change a thing if Cupid had not forgiven her (he too had to earn it by coming to terms with the fact that his wife is fallible, and standing up to his mother).

Hercules seems to have this misfortune. Before he is even born Hera conspires to make his life as hellish as possible by denying him the kingship Zeus intends for him. He is attacked by snakes as a baby. He is forced to undergo twelve years of harsh labors after killing his family in a Hera-induced rage, and has additional torments thrown on by Hera during those years. Everywhere he goes he has to fight monsters or gods. He is often cheated by kings after he fulfils his obligations to them, leading him to seek retribution later. He saves Olympus from a race of giants. Finally, he is betrayed by his second wife, who inadvertently poisons him with hydra blood, leaving him in agonizing pain and having to be burned alive. His crime that started all of this? Being born the son of Zeus. All that waited for him in the underworld? Wandering around wheat fields in the dark for all eternity. The least Zeus could do was elevate him to godhood.

Aeneas, as well. His city, Troy, is burned by the Odysseus and the Greeks. He sails around on the Mediterranean Sea for six years, meeting every threat that Odysseus did, lands in Carthage where he marries the princess Dido (who commits suicide when he leaves), and upon arriving in Latium enters into wars that kill off most of his friends.

Some religions have this as their premise—life is hard. Being Good Sucks. But it is worth it, in the end: the evil are punished, the faithful are saved, and we go on to our reward, forever and ever.

From the last book in The Bible, describing the end of time, Revelation 21:3-4,

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."

Subverted in that people can't "earn" or "work" their way to heaven by filling out a checklist. In Paul's letter to the Romans (specifically, Romans 11:6), he says this in regards to how to "work" your way to heaven:

And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

In other words, no matter how hard you work you can't earn your way to Heaven. This sounds pretty bad at first, until you realize that Paul's meaning in this is that because Jesusdied for our sins, all we have to do is accept him as our savior to make it to Heaven, which is a lot easier than trying to earn brownie points with God.

Played straight for Jesus. After all He went through to save us, the Book of Revelations identifies Him as the future ruler of the Ressurected faithful. However, being God, his dominion over us should have been His birthright rather than something earned, and many people will end up in Hell anyway.

The last part of which really depends on the teachings of one's denomination: Lutherans believe that all have been saved by Christ's sacrifice regardless of any sins, whereas Catholics teach that one must accept salvation and some have to go through Purgatory before their eternal reward.

Appears in Islam, too. Al-Baqra 214 says, "Do you expect to enter Paradise without being tested like those before you?"

The Jakarta Incident, AKA the flight of British Airways Flight 9. Imagine, if you will, being the pilot of a 747 when, about an hour into the flight, ghostly lights begin flickering on your windshield that look like the hyperspace effect from Star Wars. Before you realize what's happening, smoke fills the cabin and the engines on your aircraft begin flaming violently, before cutting out, one... by... one. Now you're piloting a giant glider over the open ocean, in the dead of night, without power, instruments, a barely functioning radio, and a rapidly depressurizing cabin. The only thing you can do is try again and again to restart the engines- to no success, time and time again. As you turn around to make an emergency landing, you realize that, oh yeah, there's a bunch of mountains between you and the runway. All hope is lost, right? Well... Let's just say the crew's medals of honor were well-deserved.

This is the basic premise of The American Dream. You start out poor, you work hard, and you finally earn yourself a better life for yourself and your family.

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